Property Market Monthly Fact File – Feb 2011

Bank Lending Rate

It has been confirmed that the Bank of England Monetary Committee have decided that the Bank Base Rate is to remain at 0.5% for a further month. It has been at this level now since 05th March, 2009.

Source: Bank of England

Mortgage Lending by the Major UK Lenders

According to data from the major UK lenders, (which comprises Banco Santander, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Royal Bank of Scotland) the flow of mortgage lending by all UK-resident mortgage lenders dropped dramatically in December – down £0.6 billion to £0.8 billion for net lending, and gross lending from £9.7 billion to £8.9 billion in the month.

Total mortgage approvals for house purchase have slightly decreased – down from £5.6 billion in November to £5.2 billion in December. Remortgaging has also seen a decrease, from £3.3 billion in November to £3.0 billion in December.

Source: Bank of England

Land Registry Average Property Prices in England and Wales

The Average Price of a property in England and Wales is now £163,814 as at the end of December, 2010.

Source: Land Registry

Percentage Changes of Property Prices in England and Wales

The Monthly change in December in England and Wales was -0.2%.

The Annual change to December in England and Wales was 1.5%.

Source: Land Registry

RICS survey overview.

The RICS Housing Market Survey for December says that the housing market is still slowing. Both supply and demand for property continue to fall. Every region of the UK has seen falling prices, with the West Midlands and Yorkshire seeing the largest falls. London saw the smallest fall of all the UK regions. However, surveyors remain optimistic about sales picking up in 2011.

Source: Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

New Mortgages granted

The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that November’s figures for lending for house purchase and remortgages were stable and little changed from October’s. There were 44,000 house purchase loans made in November, worth £6.3 billion. This is 15% lower in number (13% lower by value) than November 2009.

16,400 first-time borrowers had their loans approved, worth £1.9 billion. This is down 19% by number and 17% by value on last year.

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders

Regional trends in Rightmove Estate Agents Asking House Prices in England and Wales.

The largest increase in January is in the West Midlands, where the average asking price is up by 7.4% to £189,401. which is 10.5% higher than January 2010. This is the largest annual regional increase.

Largest decrease in asking prices by Rightmove registered estate agents in January is the North, where the average asking price is down by 5.9% to £137,330, and is now 3.2% lower than in January 2010.

Over the year to January 2011, the largest decrease in house asking prices has been in the Yorkshire & Humberside region, which has seen asking house prices fall by 6.4% to £142,131.

Source: Rightmove

Halifax House Price Index figures.

The average price of a house by the end of December was £162,435. House prices in December were 1.3% lower than in November. The quarterly figure showed a 0.9% drop. The figures show that house prices are 1.6% lower than this time last year, measured by the average for the latest quarter against the same period a year earlier. Taking December’s figures alone, there was a 3.4% drop since December 2009.

Source: Halifax

Nationwide House Price Index figures

Figures published on 1st February showed that the average cost of a home in the UK dropped by £1161 to £161,602 during the month of January, a fall of 0.1%. The annual rate stands at –1.1%.

Source: Nationwide

Rightmove House Price Index figures

Rightmove’s survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in December is £223,121, an increase of 0.3 % this month. House asking prices are only 0.4% higher than a year ago.